Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) Allen T. Chartier
the state (Kleen et al. 2004). In Wisconsin, a few Snowy Egrets (2-10 pairs) nest annually at a single site in the Green Bay area, Brown County (Cutright et al. 2006).
There are no historical records suggesting nesting in Michigan. Adams (1991) and Reinoehl (1994) predicted that the Snowy Egret would eventually be found nesting in Michigan, but no evidence was found during MBBA I, between the two atlases, nor during the current atlas period.
Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Ottawa County, Ohio. 5/3/2009. © Joan Tisdale The formerly accidental Snowy Egret has become an uncommon spring overshoot migrant The Snowy Egret is a fairly common species of and a post-breeding wanderer in summer and “southern” heron, found mainly in southeastern fall (Payne 1983). The first state records swamps and marshes, breeding along the claimed in the 1870s by Barrows (1912) were Atlantic coast north as far as Nova Scotia considered to be misidentified Great Egrets or (rarely), and in the southern portions of the immature Little Blue Herons by Wood, who Mississippi River drainage. It also is fairly suggested that the first definite record for common in portions of the Great Basin and the Michigan was from 1935, though he still Pacific Coast (Sibley 2000). Snowy Egrets also considered it very rare after that time (Wood breed in the West Indies and throughout Central 1951). Reinoehl (1994) noted that the Snowy America to northern South America south to Egret was a regular visitor to Michigan, mainly Argentina and Chile (Parsons and Master 2000). to the southeastern part of the state (peak of 14 Most often Snowy Egrets are found nesting at birds at Erie Marsh Preserve in August- isolated locales, including barrier and dredge September 1992) and Saginaw Bay, but also spoil islands, estuarine habitats, freshwater including a few Upper Peninsula records. swamps, river bottomlands, and inland lakes and rivers (Parsons and Master 2000). A review of Snowy Egret records from the Michigan Bird Survey between 1993 and 2007 The nearest breeding locale to Michigan is on shows about 170 individuals reported. Fall West Sister Island, Ohio; this is the only site in (mainly August-September) accounted for 54% that state where numbers have increased from of these records, with the latest on 12 October two pairs in 1983 to 8-10 pairs through 1989 2006 (Dombroski 2007) and a peak of up to 14 (Peterjohn and Rice 1991) and 12 were counted individuals at Pte. Mouillee, Monroe County in there in 2007 (Cuthbert and Wires 2008). 2003 (Chartier 2004). In addition, up to 14 Ontario has had only a single confirmed nesting individuals were noted at the Karn/Weadock near Hamilton in 1986 (Cadman et al. 2007). Plant (Bay County) in fall of 2006 (Dombroski Southernmost Indiana has had only one possible 2007). Spring represented 25% of the records, nesting (with Cattle Egrets) in Gibson County in most in May with the earliest on 15 April 2002 1996, but that colony was abandoned before (Reinoehl 2002), and 21% of the records (36) nesting succeeded (Castrale et al. 1998). Nesting were from summer. The majority of all 1993- in Illinois is limited to nearly 50 pairs at a single 2007 records were from the southeastern LP site in Cook County in the northeastern part of (49%) and the Saginaw Bay area (33%), with
© 2010 Kalamazoo Nature Center Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) Allen T. Chartier only nine records (4%) from the southwestern LP, three (<2%) from the northern LP, and four (2%) from the UP. During the MBBA II period, 87 records pertained to spring overshoot migrants and summer/fall post-breeding dispersers, a slight increase over the period between atlases. Most summer records were from Pte. Mouillee and the Karn/Weadock Plant. There were no summer records of Snowy Egret in 2002 and 2006.
BBS trends for the region cannot be estimated as this species is observed on too few routes for statistical analysis. Snowy Egret populations in the southeastern U.S. have increased and are now fairly stable after being decimated in the late 1800s for the millinery trade, but they are declining along most of the Atlantic coast (Parsons and Master 2000).
© 2010 Kalamazoo Nature Center Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) Allen T. Chartier
Literature Cited Illinois Natural History Survey. Special Publication No. 26. Adams Jr., R. J. 1991. Snowy Egret. In Brewer, Parsons, K.C. and T.L. Master. 2000. Snowy R., G.A. McPeek, and R.J. Adams Jr. 1991. Egret (Egretta thula). In The Birds of North The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Michigan. America, No. 489 (A Poole and F Gill, eds.). Michigan State University Press. East The Birds of North America, Inc., Lansing, MI. Philadelphia, PA. Barrows, W.B. 1912. Michigan Bird Life. Payne, R.B. 1983. A Distributional Checklist Special Bulletin. Michigan Agricultural of the Birds of Michigan. MP 164. College. Lansing, MI. University of Michigan Museum of Cadman, M.D., D.A. Sutherland, G.G. Beck, D. Zoology. Ann Arbor, MI. Lepage, and A.R. Couturier (eds.). 2007. Peterjohn, B.G., and D.L. Rice. 1991. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario, Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas. Ohio Department 2001-2005. Bird Studies Canada, of Natural Resources. Columbus, OH. Environment Canada, Ontario Field Reinoehl, J. 1994. Snowy Egret. In McPeek, Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural GA, and RJ Adams (eds.). 1994. The Birds Resources, and Ontario Nature. Toronto, of Michigan. Indiana University Press. Ontario. Indianapolis, IN. Castrale, J.S., E.M. Hopkins, and C.E. Keller. Reinoehl, J. 2002. Michigan Bird Survey, 1998. Atlas of Breeding Birds of Indiana. Spring 2002 (March-May). Michigan Birds Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and Natural History 9(4): 207-238. Division of Fish and Wildlife, Nongame and Sibley, DA. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Endangered Wildlife Program. Indianapolis, Alfred A. Knopf. New York. IN. Wood, NA. 1951. The Birds of Michigan. MP Chartier, A.T. 2004. Michigan Bird Survey: Fall 75. University of Michigan Museum of 2003 (August-November). Michigan Birds Zoology. Ann Arbor, MI. and Natural History 11(2): 86-119. Cuthbert, F.J. and L. Wires. 2008. Long-term Suggested Citation Monitoring of Colonial Waterbird Populations in the U.S.Great Lakes: Chartier, A.T. Snowy Egret (Egretta thula). In Improving the Scientific Basis for Chartier, A.T., J.J. Baldy, and J.M. Conservation and Management, Year 1 and Brenneman (eds.). 2010. The Second 2 (2007-08) Progress Report. Dept. Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas. Kalamazoo Fisheries, Wildlife & Conservation Biology, Nature Center. Kalamazoo, MI. Accessed University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. online at:
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